Why Malaysia needs migrant workers

In the last forty
years, a substantial section of the world population has been involved in international
migration. It was either for better economic fortunes, escaping natural and man
made disasters or for socio-political reasons. As a result, about 280 million
people are said to have lived outside the country of their births in 2005.
<P>Today
in Asia there are about 20 million people who work in neighbouring countries.
During the 1970s, many Asian workers particularly from the Indian subcontinent
began seeking employment particularly in Middle Eastern countries and the United
States, Canada and Australia. Several countries in the region like Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait and UAE enjoyed buoyant economies due to escalating oil prices in 1973.
This, in turn, attracted a large number of foreign labourers to carry out their
massive infrastructural investments. But since the ’90s, many from labour abundant
South Asian and Southeast Asian countries preferred to work in the fast-growing
Southeast Asian countries. Demand for both skilled and unskilled workers has grown
from rapidly growing nations of the Pacific Rim such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.</P><P>Multi-ethnic population in Malaysia demonstrated
the long history of migration. About 40 per cent of its 26 million people are
of migrant stock. Due to its geographical location at the crossroads of Southeast
Asia, Malaysia had for centuries been open to traders and travellers from the
East and the West. But it was only during the British colonial administration
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that the inflow of foreign
labourers especially from the Indian subcontinent, China and Indonesia contributed
to the formation of a multi-ethnic, mutli-religious, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual
plural society in Malaysia. The descendants of these migrant workers, especially
from China and India, are classified officially as non-Bumiputra as opposed to
Bumiputra (Malays and other indigenous people). Those from Indonesia have been
assimilated with the Malay groups and are categorised as Bumiputra.</P><P>Before
Independence in 1957 the British colonial administration, having confronted labour
shortage resorted to the importation of cheap labour from India and China to work
in tin mines, rubber plantation and for the overall development of the infrastructure.
In fact, these migrant workers provided cheap as well as adequate supply of workers
when local workers either found not suitable or interested in working under the
same harsh conditions faced by the migrant labours. The number of people involved
was in millions and the inflow was abrupt and the migrants were from different
ethnic and socio-cultural backgrounds. These factors led to the formation of an
alien community. Although the primary objective of the migrant labours was to
make some fortune and return home after sometime, a combination of factors operating
within British Malaya and in the countries of origin resulted in many migrant
workers taking the decision of not returning to their respective countries of
origin and instead settling down in Malaya permanently.</P><P>However, many migrants
returned to their homeland during the recession years in the thirties but the
number of those who remained behind was still large. The majority of those who
chose to stay opted for Malaysian citizenship after independence in 1957.</P><P>After
Independence, this free migration was curbed by various policies and the 1963
Malaysian immigration policy made it very difficult for non-Malaysian born persons
to gain permanent residence or citizenship while working in Malaysia. Therefore,
the major changes in the demographic balance between ethnic groups had taken place
more due to changes in fertility and mortality rates and less in net migration
from overseas.</P><P>The economic development after independence is characterised
by a widening economic gap between rural and urban sectors as well as between
Bumiputra and non-Bumiputra communities. Bumiputra groups after independence were
found mostly in the countryside, working as peasant farmers while the migrant
groups (non-Bumiputra), in particular the Chinese, were mainly involved in commerce
and trade in the urban sectors. The Indians, on the other hand, were found mostly
in the plantation sector working as labourers. The extreme economic disparities
consequent from liberal economic strategy based on growth without redistribution
together with political and ideological differences contributed to the inter-ethnic
violence of May 1969, which had eventually led to the formation of the New Economic
Policy (NEP). This NEP was adopted to correct the economic imbalance and to remove
occupational segregation among the major ethnic groups in Malaysia.</P><P>As a
result of NEP, Malays who confined themselves to the rural areas began to migrate
to the urban areas as employment opportunities were expanded largely because of
the structural transformation of the Malaysian economy that created new jobs in
the manufacturing and services sectors. This migration to the industrial urban
areas also affected the position of the rural population including Indian estate
workers and the Malay small and marginal farmers. This has, in fact created an
acute labour shortage in the rural areas in general and in the plantation sector
in particular. This is how the dynamics within the country created a vacuum thereby
setting the stage for pull factors to rekindle the labour inflows both legally
and illegally.</P><P>The plantation sector was the first to feel the heat as the
labour force began to deplete. Many educated youths opted to work in new factories
rather than toil in plantations. Deplorable living conditions and low wages discouraged
them to stay on. On the other hand, the new labour intensive companies provided
attractive salaries and fringe benefits.</P><P>The construction industry also
faces a similar situation. Hiring cheap foreign workers was the solution as it
was difficult to attract local workers at prevailing wages. Later on, there was
a pressing labour problem in the manufacturing sectors. Unskilled workers were
in demand and to ease the tight market condition, the companies were allowed to
recruit migrant workers based on specific needs.</P><P>There is a great demand
for skilled workers in the electronic industry including technicians, engineers
and production workers.</P><P>At the beginning, the labour shortage in the plantation
sector has attracted mainly Indonesian workers and a small number of workers from
the Philippines and Thailand. Later on, the rapid economic growth and the huge
influx of foreign investment with emphasis on export oriented industrialisation
strategy created a vacuum in the economy in terms of overall labour shortage.</P><P>More
jobs were created in the construction, manufacturing and the services sectors.
Therefore, without the importation of foreign workers the country’s rapid development,
construction and infrastructural programme could not be sustained.</P><P>Malaysia
has undergone a major structural transformation from an agro-based economy to
an industrialised one .This is consistent with the objective of achieving a developed
country status by the year 2020. Primary commodities are being replaced by manufacturing
industries by increasing its share in the total merchandise export. Because of
this structural transformation and rapid economic growth, all sectors of the economy
are in dire need of foreign labours since the local work force can not meet the
growing need for labour.</P><P>Several factors such as limited skilled labours,
lack of institutions to train workers, slow growth of skills to meet technology
change and attitudes of the locals who shun menial jobs are likely to contribute
to the current labour shortage in Malaysia. Government report and statistics demonstrate
that there is a serious labour shortage in various sectors including manufacturing,
plantation and construction. As such, a stable pool of workers both skilled and
unskilled is needed to meet the on-going need of the economy.</P><P><I>The writer
teaches at York College, City University of New York and a Research fellow at
IERF.</I></P><P><I>Source: http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=1/29/2007&amp;section_id=4&amp;newsid=50923&amp;spcl=no</I>